EVERETT — Both men showed up at a south Everett apartment complex with plans to have sex with a young girl.
Both men found police officers waiting instead.
Both now are facing sex crime charges.
In June, Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives and Everett police held a “To Catch a Predator”-style sting at an apartment complex along 128th Street SW. The TV show is based on surprising and arresting predators who are planning on sexual meet-ups with minors.
The sting started with a sheriff’s detective posing online as a teenage girl, according to a search warrant. The detective began exchanging messages with men via Craigslist, a classifieds website.
One man, 47, of Maple Valley, had posted ads seeking young women who wanted to lose their virginity. In one post, he promised to be their “daddy figure” and included a series of characters known as a “winky face.”
The man arranged to meet with the girl at her “home” in Everett. He reportedly told the police who confronted him that he drove there “just to talk” to the girl.
He was booked into jail and is facing a charge of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. The man also was being investigated by Seattle police under similar circumstances, court papers show. He’s since posted bond.
A second suspect snared in the sting was 51 of Kirkland. He reportedly was posting online about wanting to find a young girl and get her pregnant.
When he was confronted by detectives at the apartment, he said he was supposed to talk with a girl there who was about to turn 18. He said he wasn’t using his reading glasses during their message exchange and must have mistook 16 for 18. He then reportedly wrote out his statement to police without using any reading glasses.
He also was booked and is facing a charge of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. Police reportedly found email messages the man had sent to people involving his fantasies about sexually abusing children.
He reportedly told one woman he wanted to “breed” her so they could start an incestuous family.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449, rking@heraldnet.com.
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